Does sea salt contain lower sodium than other salts?

Question

my husband has high blood pressure and i believe sea salt contains less sodium but i could be wrong. Anyone know?

Answer 1

Good question. The answer is, as others have noted, that sea salt has effectively just as much sodium as table salt. You want to avoid them both.

If you start reading food labels, cut out *any* added salt, and watch restaurant food very carefully, you'll find that you don't miss the extra salt a bit. Once you cut sodium intake to whatever naturally occurs in the foods you eat, you will find that any food with salt added to it will taste *really* salty. So you don't have to work very hard after the initial effort to recognize foods that you should avoid. Once your tastes have adjusted, your own preferences will take care of a lot of it for you.

I used to add salt to a hard boiled egg or corn on the cob. But now I find that they are just fine without it!

The other point I should mention is that your husband's BP might also be lowered by eating fresh fruit that is high in potassium (oranges, bananas, etc.). Potassium acts in the opposite direction from sodium at the cellular level in controlling body fluids, and that's a large part of what determines your blood pressure.

Feel free to contact me off-line if you are interested in learning more. I can give you some more pointers and reading material.

My wife has cardiomyopathy, so we work at reducing sodium intake together. Once we made this adjustment, I find that I'm happy to avoid salty foods, as well, even though I don't really need to.

Answer 2

The following excerpt is from the American Dietetic Association's Complete Food & Nutrition Guide:

"No. Even though sea salt often may be promoted as a healthful alternative to ordinary table salt, the sodium content is comparable, and it offers no known health advantages. As with other salts, sea salt should be used judiciously."

If your husband has good kidney health, I would recommend potassium chloride which tastes the same as sodium chloride but without the sodium. One brand is called Cardia Salt (I used to work for the company that makes it). If he does have kidney problems, try Mrs. Dash.

If you want to talk about this or any other nutritional concerns, feel free to contact me at the website below.

Answer 3

Sea salt is just as salty as any other salt and has the same sodium content. Best thing for your husband's high blood pressure is a salt free diet. If he's been a heavy salt user it will take a little while to get used to, but once he does, he won't want to go back to salty food.
Incidentally, all salt was once sea salt. The salt that is mined was once in an ocean that has since dried up.

Answer 4

I've heard people say that sea salt tastes salter than regular salt. I cannot say but the sodium content would be virtually identical except for impurities in the sea salt. If your trying to cut your sodium intake, using sea salt would likely be futile.

Low sodium living takes a lot of label reading and you become accustomed to less salt. There are salt substitutes ( Potassium Chloride) but you should talk to your Dr about there use. If you get too much potassium it can be fatal. I have CHF and take 1000 mg of Potassium Chloride a day. My doctor cleared it's use but said take it easy on it.

You'll find a lot of information on low sodium associated with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Their situation is much more extreme than just trying to lower your blood pressure but it is a good reference.

Low sodium does more than just lower bloodpressure:

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/heartdisease/4540/more-benefits-from-restricting-sodium

Answer 5

Sea salt and table salt both contain the same amount of sodium

Answer 6

On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of ~3.5%, or 35 parts per thousand. This means that every 1 kg of seawater has approximately 35 grams of dissolved salts (mostly, but not entirely, the ions of sodium chloride: Na+, Cl-). The average density of seawater at the surface of the ocean is 1.025 g/mL; seawater is denser than fresh water (which reaches a maximum density of 1.000 g/mL at a temperature of 4°C) because of the added weight of the salts and electrostriction.
After reading the above I will not recommend Sea salt.

Answer 7

Yes, but it has higher levels of other metals, like potassium. Sea salt is better because it has lower levels of potassium than salt-free seasonings. Too much potassium would stop his heart just like sodium.

Answer 8

Yes because the fish heads help absorb some of the salt. Do not eat the fish heads.